Author Profile

Burck Smith

Burck Smith is the CEO and founder of StraighterLine. Before launching StraighterLine, he was the founder and CEO of SMARTHINKING, the dominant online tutoring provider for schools and colleges. Burck has worked as an independent consultant with such clients as the Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Computer Curriculum Corporation, the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, the Milken Exchange on Education and Technology, Teaching Matters Inc., Converge Magazine, and others. He has written chapters for two books on education policy for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and is a member of the AEI’s Higher Education Working Group. As a writer about education and technology issues, Burck has been published by Wired Magazine, Wired News, Converge Magazine, University Business and the National School Boards Association. He holds a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. from Williams College.

Articles by Burck Smith

Maximum Education or Maximum Revenue?

Jun 20, 2012 · Burck Smith · No Comments

College officials may favor their own online courses over less costly ones offered by others.

Disrupting College? Lessons from iTunes

Mar 22, 2011 · Burck Smith · No Comments

So far, online education has failed to transform higher education. An entrepreneur explains why.

Across Colleges of All Types, Student Anxiety Is a Growing Issue Aug 3, 2020
College admissions is a different field than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. High school guidance counselors still help hundreds of students make a plan for after graduation. Students still try to get into the best college they can. But they are now more cost-conscious, their families hire private college counselors, and they … Continue reading “Across Colleges of All Types, Student Anxiety Is a Growing Issue”
Did You Know? Without Foreign Students, NC Schools Would Take a Big Hit Jul 30, 2020
On July 6, the Trump administration announced new guidelines that would revoke the F-1 visas of international college students if their schools did not hold in-person classes in the fall. After much public outrage and criticism of the guidelines, the White House rescinded its plan a week later. The Chronicle of Higher Education notes that … Continue reading “Did You Know? Without Foreign Students, NC Schools Would Take a Big Hit”
Fall 2020: The Semester of Isolation Jul 20, 2020
Universities’ frantic struggles to create fall semester plans that bring students back to campus often hinge on social distancing. While students are excited about the promise of an on-campus fall, many detailed university plans have made it clear that freshman year will hardly resemble the bustling experience it was before. Instead, strict social distancing standards … Continue reading “Fall 2020: The Semester of Isolation”

If We Jettison Standardized Testing, What’s Its Replacement? Jun 26, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic probably won’t kill the SAT, but will no doubt leave it in a badly weakened condition. Both the SAT (and its close competitor, the ACT) have had to cancel administration of their tests for the last few months and, according to this Washington Post story, universities have decided that they will make … Continue reading “If We Jettison Standardized Testing, What’s Its Replacement?”
Why Do American Universities Lead the World in Scientific Research? Jun 24, 2020
Miguel Urquiola is professor and chair of the department of economics at Columbia University. His special field is education and his book Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University Research is about American higher education—its history, its relationship to higher education in Europe, and the trajectory it has followed from the … Continue reading “Why Do American Universities Lead the World in Scientific Research?”
The Right College: Students Using Data to Find Their Best Match Jun 15, 2020
Which college a student chooses to attend is a major decision that can affect the rest of their life. What students want to study, what they can afford to pay, and cultural fit can all influence their choice. Throughout the process, students have all sorts of vague information, but providing them with data specific to … Continue reading “The Right College: Students Using Data to Find Their Best Match”

Across Colleges of All Types, Student Anxiety Is a Growing Issue Aug 3, 2020
College admissions is a different field than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. High school guidance counselors still help hundreds of students make a plan for after graduation. Students still try to get into the best college they can. But they are now more cost-conscious, their families hire private college counselors, and they … Continue reading “Across Colleges of All Types, Student Anxiety Is a Growing Issue”
UCLA’s Discrimination Office Targeting Professor Threatens Academic Freedom Jul 31, 2020
When a political science lecturer at UCLA read to his class Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and showed clips from a documentary on racism, he found himself in hot water. The reason: Both the letter and the documentary included the N-word. Many students complained, which in turn pitted UCLA against the … Continue reading “UCLA’s Discrimination Office Targeting Professor Threatens Academic Freedom”
Did You Know? Without Foreign Students, NC Schools Would Take a Big Hit Jul 30, 2020
On July 6, the Trump administration announced new guidelines that would revoke the F-1 visas of international college students if their schools did not hold in-person classes in the fall. After much public outrage and criticism of the guidelines, the White House rescinded its plan a week later. The Chronicle of Higher Education notes that … Continue reading “Did You Know? Without Foreign Students, NC Schools Would Take a Big Hit”